Barry Streek
Sport, welfare, arts, culture and environmental sectors, represented by NGOs, have launched an umbrella body, the Peoples’ National Lottery Coalition (PNLC), to monitor the allocation of the proceeds from South Africa’s national lottery, which is due to be launched on March 1.
The PNLC intends to engage with the government “in a proposed joint process to appoint distributing agencies in terms of the Lotteries Act for the distribution of proceeds from South Africa’s national lottery”, the PNLC said in a statement.
Professor Raymond Parson, co-chair of the Ubuntu National Welfare and Development Trust, told a workshop in Johannesburg that the PNLC was the largest civil society initiative ever launched in South Africa.
“Our objective is to engage with government in a proposed joint process that will not only ensure that distributing agencies are appointed in time, but that money donated to each sector is effectively distributed to where the need in South Africa is the greatest.”
He said the appointment and structuring of distributing agencies in the spirit of the Lotteries Act was a formidable task. “The importance of utilising existing skills and expertise, preventing duplication of effort and putting cost- effective and, where possible, centralised distribution mechanisms in place speaks for itself.”
The goals of the PNLC include representing and promoting the interests of existing and potential recipients of proceeds of the lottery; implementing initiatives aimed at consolidating the introduction and implementation of effective mechanisms for the distribution of lottery proceeds; and ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of lottery proceeds to all sectors which stand to benefit.
The PNLC represents the Ubuntu National Welfare and Development Trust, which comprises the Ithuba, Kagiso and Viva Trusts; the National Sports Council of South Africa, the World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa; the United Community Chests of South Africa; the National Welfare Forum; the Non-Profit Partnership, including the South African NGO Coalition; the South African Grant Makers Association; the National Arts and Lotteries Initiative, comprising the Arts and Culture Trust of the President, Business and Arts South Africa and the National Arts Council; and the South African World Conservation Union (IUCN) subcommittee on the national lottery.